IN COMMEMORATION of the fourth anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), together with other media organizations such as the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), has been holding a series of documentary screenings in various colleges and universities.
On November 15, the PCIJ partnered with the Journalism Club of the University of the Philippines – Diliman for the first leg of the campus roadshow. About forty to fifty students – a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors – attended the activity, which showcased the PCIJ documentary “Angkan Inc.”. The documentary features the clans of Maguindanao and the dynamics of history, culture, tradition, and politics in the province that gave rise to influential political families such as the Ampatuan clan, whose patriarch has been tagged as the mastermind in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre where 58 people, including 32 journalists, were murdered.
The Angkan, Inc. documentary was produced by the PCIJ with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The second leg of the campus roadshow was held at the Centro Escolar University last November 18, where about a hundred Mass Communication students attended. PCIJ Multimedia Director Ed Lingao served as the main speaker for the activity. He presented PCIJ documentaries on media killings and the culture of impunity. Among the cases discussed were the killings of Marlyn Esperat, the first journalist to expose the P700 million fertilizer fund scam where former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was implicated, and Palawan environmental broadcaster Gerry Ortega.
The third leg was held at the University of the Philippines – Los Banos last November 19. The documentary showing and discussion were attended not only by UPLB students, but also by high school and college students from nearby towns and cities. With theme,”Clan Feuds and the Press: Maguindanao Massacre Four Years After” , the forum featured the Angkan Inc. documentary and discussions from FFFJ Legal Counsel Atty. Prima Jesusa Quinsayas and Ed Lingao.
THE NATION marks tomorrow, Nov. 23, the fourth anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre, where 32 journalists were killed in the worst single-day act of violence against the media ever recorded in history.
In part to honor the memory of the massacre victims, human rights and media groups across the world will also mark the day as the “International Day to End Impunity.”
But 40 months after President Benigno S. Aquino III promised to end the reign of extrajudicial killings that he had inherited from the Arroyo administration, the Philippines remains one of the deadliest places in the world for journalists, and ranks No. 3 in the “Global Impunity Index.”
The son of a former president who was widowed when her husband, a prominent opposition leader, was assassinated, President Aquino came to power with high expectations that he would act with dispatch and resolve on the unsolved murders of activists, lawyers, church workers, and journalists.
He himself promised as much — and more. In his first State of the Nation Address or SONA, he vowed that his administration would work to usher in an era of “swift justice.”
“Kapayapaan at katahimikan po ang pundasyon ng kaunlaran (Peace and order are the foundations of progress),” Aquino said in his first SONA. “Habang nagpapapatuloy ang barilan, patuloy din ang pagkakagapos natin sa kahirapan (So long as there is gunfire, so too will we continue to be impoverished).”
Aquino did busy himself trying to address the country’s economic woes. In the first half of his term, Aquino and his economic managers assiduously sought and in time earned the Philippines unanimous upgrades from the world’s most creditable ratings agencies, notably Fitch, Moody’s, Standard & Poor.
Parallel to that, however, were the country’s lower and lower scores from the world’s most creditable human rights monitoring agencies — in large measure because of the rising numbers of media murders, and the slow, tepid results of official action on the cases.
Under Aquino, the Philippines has scored steadily dipping ratings in recent years from international groups monitoring the state of human rights, media freedom, and freedom of expression such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Asia, and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.
In fact, during Aquino’s first 40 months in office, from July 2010 to October 2013, at least 23 journalists were killed, among them 16 radio broadcasters and seven print journalists.
It is a trail of blood redder, thicker, and worse compared to the number of work-related media murders per year under four other presidents before him, including his late mother Corazon ‘Cory’ C. Aquino and his immediate predecessor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
“Those who have less in life should have more in law.” Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, 7th President Republic of the Philippines.
With these words, Magsaysay tried to set the tone for a more socially-attuned administration of justice. Yet 56 after Magsaysay’s death, his words remain a mere slogan.
On November 23, 2009, 58 people — 32 of whom were media workers — were waylaid in what has become known throughout the world as the Maguindanao Massacre, the worst case of election violence in the country, and the biggest case of violence against mediamen in the world. The incident has caught the country flat-footed, yet it also exposed several long-festering, and in many aspects, long-known yet unaddressed issues. On one hand. the incident served as a grisly wake-up call for both national government and local and international civil societies on the issues of election violence, clan politics and dynamics, and violence against media. On the other hand, ending impunity became the priority mission of both the Philippine government and civil societies.
In coordination with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Libertas, a legal policy non-government organization, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP) launched a research project that dissected the massacre case as a way to understand these issues and offer recommendations for reforms in the country’s judicial system.
The research project output is a book entitled “Maguindanao Massacre: Case Study for Breaking Impunity, Increasing Accountability, and Broadening Access to Justice.” It is a compendium of interviews, focus group discussions and dialogues with “family members of the Maguindanao Massacre victims, key informants who are private or public prosecutors, officials from the security sector, relevant government agencies, and representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and media organizations.”
At the crux of the case study is the fact there is still no clear-cut definition of extrajudicial killing (EJK) especially for state players prosecuting the criminal act. The study posits that a good definition is important to set this specific criminal act apart from the other crimes. It further suggests that this particular crime be called “unexplained killing” and “to let it cover both state and non-state perpetrators.” In this way, the study broadened its scope of coverage to be more inclusive of other similar cases of EJKs, not just in Maguindanao or Mindanao, but all over the country as well.
Red-tagging of this type of crime, or identifying specific cases for special attention, also puts “value” since red-tagged cases are more closely monitored by the justice department at the regional level. The label also attracts more public attention, thereby potentially increasing the confidence level of the witnesses. “It is suggested that red-tagging be done at the point of filing informations in court, and that red-tagged cases no longer be raffled. Aside from special handling by the prosecution, this will also facilitate human rights documentation and monitoring,” the case study reads.
The case study proposes that special courts be designated to hear this type of crime continuously. Study proponents also proposed – by way of citing one of the observation of its key informants — the resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), because “while peace talks are ongoing, extrajudicial killings are seen to slow down and become intermittent.” In order to further speed up the court processes on EJKs and other human rights violation cases, the case study also proposes there be mechanisms in the rules of court to allow the perpetuation of testimonies of witnesses.
According to the case study, key informants from both the government and civil societies agree that there should be an enabling law on command responsibility to exact criminal liability and for command responsibility to be applicable to all criminal offenses under the country’s Revised Penal Code. The case study also recommended that there should be “transparency in the conduct of internal investigations and in the military justice system.”
Presently, the rules on command responsibility in the Philippines cover only as high as two degrees. However, a respondent from the Philippine Army conceded that — with respect to civilian supremacy over state security forces — court martial will surrender the “subject and the case even if there is a separate crime or administrative case arising under the Articles of War,” provided that there will be clear parameters.
Even though the Philippine Senate had not yet given its concurrence to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the Rome Statute) pursuant to Article VII of the Constitution when the case study was prepared (2010 to 2011), on August 30, 2011, the Philippine Senate gave its concurrence to the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute, among others, defines the coverage of the doctrine of command responsibility to all state signatories of the international
Other recommendations put forward by the study include:
Requiring a human rights clearance process for personnel in all law enforcement agencies.
Enhancing and increasing coverage of the Witness Protection Program (WPP)
Training of paralegals on investigation and legal support in the prosecution of cases
More inter-agency cooperation and evidence-sharing among agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of the cases
Initiation of administrative cases involving human rights violations by government agencies DESPITE the absence of private complainants.
More effective firearms control through improved logistics management system by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
More concrete measures to depoliticize the local police force.
Engagement of the Anti-Money Laundering Council in cases involving HRVs.
The recommendations for more effecive firearms control and the need to depoliticze the local police forces stood out starkly against the backdrop of the Maguindanao Massacre. The Ampatuan clan, the family accused of masterminding the massacre, has been accused of amassing firearms and ammunition through the help of regional and national patrons. In effect, the Ampatuan clan had been able to build its own legal private army using both government arms and ammunition.
As well, the clan has been accused of using the local police force in Maguindanao in carrying out the massacre. Under the Local Government Code, the local government units have operational control over the local police forces. In the case of the Maguindanao Massacre, the local police units were said to have been compromised by the clan through because the clan had full control over the appointments and perks of the local police officers.
During the course of the case study, it was also recommended that there should be a “community and peer support in the prosecution of criminal cases” and a “rationalized and integrated financial and other support for victims of atrocious crimes, including families of the Maguinndanao Massacre victims.” These recommendations stem from the outcome of a series of FGDs with the families of the massacre victims.
“In this respect, a cohesive financial support program with support coming from various sources may be rationalized and administered just by one agency, perhaps the CHRP or the DSWD, so that the families need only coordinate with one agency, Requirements can be streamlined by such agency, so that the families need not undergo repetitive processes for screening, which merely add to the famlies’ difficulty and frustration,” the case study recommends.
The most recent case in point of this was when news that a number of the families of massacre victims have allegedly opted to settle with massacre prime suspects of the Ampatuan clan. Legal counsel Harry Roque of the Center for International law posted in his blog that the families of 14 massacre victims had reportedly signed a written authority with a “close associate” of the Ampatuans to broker a settlement with the accused sometime in February, this year.
Roque’s law firm is representing four of the 14 families who supposedly opted to settle. However, he claimed that the “settlement” was made without his knowledge and that he got wind of the settlement deal from one of his clients.
Although the news of the 14 families of massacre victims considering a settlement with the Ampatuans may come as a shock for most who have been following the massacre case, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) national chair Rowena Caranza-Paraan said that the move is not “surprising” and that it should not paint the families of the massacre victims as ”sellouts.”
Caranza-Paraan said that there are two main factors that made the families tempted to strike a settlement deal—the snail’s pace of the court trial and families’ lack of sources of income.
“It would always be the decision of the victims’ families. But whether some of them decide to accept a settlement or not, the search for justice for those killed will continue because many of them will never settle,” Caranza-Paraan said.
As observed in the prosecution of EJK and other human rights violations cases in the country, testimonial evidences play a crucial role. When witnesses and families of massacre victims are killed, harassed and often times slapped with trumped up retaliatory charges in court quicker than the respondents of the cases are arrested, then it negates the whole judicial process.
“Hence, there is critical need to secure witnesses. Unfortunately, one common observation is the lack of funds and insufficient of support for witnesses under the Witness Protection Program (WPP),” the case study points out. Thus, the case study also recommends that the justice department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) be enhanced and its coverage increased.
“Truly, the Maguindanao Massacre was an unspeakable crime. It represents all that is evil in our political system. It shows what is dysfunctional in our legal processes. The only good that can come out of it is that it compels us to train our sights on these infirmities, and galvanizes our resolve as a nation to address it. The above recommendations are made in this light, so that the lost lives of the victims may not be put to naught,” the case study reads in part.
MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS expressed dismay and distress over another ruling by the Quezon City court trying the Maguindanao Massacre case that they say would further delay the trial.
The Quezon City Regional Trail Court Branch 22 under Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes had deferred for the third time the arraignment of two more principal accused in the Maguindanao Massacre, after defense lawyers argued that they have pending petitions with the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan are charged with 58 counts of murder for the deaths of members of a party of Esmael Mangudadatu that was on the way to the provincial capitol to file his election papers in 2009. Sajid Islam is the son of Ampatuan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., while Akmad “Tato” is the son-in-law of Andal Sr.
The two were supposed to have been arraigned on June 26, but the arraignment was deferred to July 3. The court later reset the arraignment to August 7.
The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, a network of media organizations working for the protection of Filipino journalists, released a statement expressing dismay over the court deferment.
The group says the court has issued several other rulings that have further delayed the trial. This, the group says, is a clear indication that the court does not appreciate the importance of the trial.
“We are distrubed by the trial court’s decision, as we have been distressed by its and other courts’ past rulings that have delayed the trial,” the group said in a statement released to the media. “They are indications that the judicial system has not fully appreciated the significance of the massacre trial to the press, to democracy, and to the rest of the Filipino people.”
“It is part of a pattern that since 2010 has delayed the trial and is threatening to prolong it beyond the bounds of human endurance,” the group said.
For example, the group pointed out that former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan was only arraigned in December 2012, or three years after he was ordered arrested. “As in the case of his other accused kin, the delay was due to the argument that he had pending petitions before the CA and the SC.”
“Of the eight members of the Ampatuan clan among the principal accused, only four have been arraigned,” the group added. “No date has been set for the arraignment of Anwar Jr. and Anwar Sajid, the grandsons of Andal Ampatuan Sr.”
FFFJ: ONE MORE DELAY IN A LONG LIST OF DELAYS
The deferment of the arraignment of two of the principal accused in the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan town massacre adds to the already long list of delays in the judicial process that for four years have thrown one obstacle after another in the path of credibly concluding the trial of those accused. Justice for the victims is the only sign that would demonstrate to the killers of journalists and other citizens of this country that they cannot keep killing with impunity.
Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” of the Ampatuan clan are charged with 58 counts of murder. Sajid Islam is the son of Ampatuan patriarch Andal Sr. and was the Officer-in-Charge of the province of Maguindanao at the time of the massacre. Akmad “Tato” is the son-in-law of Andal Sr., who is also among the principal accused.
Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” were originally scheduled for arraignment on June 26, 2013. This was moved to July 3, 2013 when their defense counsel filed a motion seeking the deferment of their arraignment until their separate petitions before the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Supreme Court (SC) are resolved.
On July 2, 2013, the trial court denied the motion on the ground that the pendency of such petitions before the higher courts is not a ground for deferring arraignment.
Despite its own written order denying the motion, the trial court nevertheless granted the oral motion of the defense counsel of the two accused to have their arraignment postponed for another month. Their arraignment has been reset to August 7, 2013.
The defense counsel of Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” argued that for the two to be arraigned despite the pendency of their CA and SC petitions would violate their right to due process. He also claimed that the postponement will not damage or injure the People of the Philippines, the plaintiff in the 58 consolidated murder cases.
Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” were arrested early December 2009 right after then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed Maguindanao under Martial Law. They were indicted on February 2010 for 56 counts of murder. On May 2010, they were also indicted in the 57th murder case, that involving the killing of Victor Nunez, and on June 2012 in the 58th case for the murder of Reynaldo Momay.
Like their fellow accused, both have availed of every possible legal remedy allowed under the law and the Rules of Court. They have repeatedly cited the pendency of their various petitions, motions and appeals to delay their arraignment.
Arraignment marks the completion of a court's jurisdiction over the accused, and is an important stage in the criminal proceedings. It is that part of the judicial process in which charges are read to the accused followed by his plea of guilty or not guilty. The arraignment of the accused would finally, after nearly four years, begin the equally tedious and lengthy process of presenting evidence to establish guilt.
The deferment—for the third time—of the arraignment of Sajid Islam and Akmad “Tato” will continue to delay the trial, despite the urgency of concluding it not only for the sake of justice for the families of the 58 murdered victims, but also for the People of the Philippines, for the press, and for the democracy that supposedly reigns in this land.
It is part of a pattern that since 2010 has delayed the trial and is threatening to prolong it beyond the bounds of human endurance.
Zaldy Ampatuan, for example, was arraigned only in December 2012, three years after his arrest. As in the case of his other accused kin, the delay was due to the argument that he had pending petitions before the CA and the SC.
Of the eight members of the Ampatuan clan among the principal accused, only four have been arraigned. No date has been set for the arraignment of Anwar Jr. and Anwar Sajid, the grandsons of Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Members of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, a network of press freedom advocates, have long argued that the credible conclusion of the Ampatuan Massacre trial is crucial to the dismantling of the culture of impunity, and the pattern of violence in that culture that makes victims not only of journalists, but of other citizens.
For that to happen, everyone involved, most particularly the presiding judge, the prosecution, and the rest of the judicial system, must be focused on concluding the trial before long, as justice demands.
We are disturbed by the trial court’s decision, as we have been distressed by its and other courts’ past rulings that have delayed the trial. They are indications that the judicial system has not fully appreciated the significance of the massacre trial to the press, to democracy, and to the rest of the Filipino people.
SIGNATORIES:
Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists:
Center for Community Journalism and Development
Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility
Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Philippine Press Institute
One of Ampatuans’ mansions. Thanks Froilan Gallardo of Mindanews for the photo.
The aborted P50 million each settlement with the relatives of 14 (of the 58) victims of the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre with a certain Jun Chan raised the question,“”Where was that huge sum of money supposed to come from?”
There is no chance to ask Chan the identity of his principal because Mylah Reyes-Roque, in an article for VERA Files, said the settlement was signed third week of February and Chan was killed when his vehicle was ambushed on his way to his farm in General Santos City last March 25.
Although the relatives of the victims met only with Chan accompanied by someone introduced only to them as “Prof”, they were sure that the principal of the two were the former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr and members of his family who are the primary suspects in the massacre because the deal involved their signing an affidavit of desistance.
The deal would involve P700 million at P50 million each in exchange for their signing a quit claim and for them to pin the blame on now Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu.
Zaldy and Andal Jr arrested.
Again, the question, “Where was the money supposed to come from?” The Court of Appeals has ordered frozen the houses and vehicles of the Ampatuans mentioned in the March 2010 article by Carol Arguillas for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism upon the petition of the Anti-Money Laundering Council. The AMLAC has a pending petition for forfeiture of those assets at the Regional Trial Court. But nothing is reported of cash confiscated from the Ampatuans.
The settlement strengthens the fear voiced out by concerned citizens that the Ampatuans were able to stash their much, much bigger loot and they are using it to buy off their freedom.
Days after the Nov 23 massacre, there were reports of crates of money being hauled out of the houses of Ampatuans. A source said he saw a video by a TV network of about eight or nine container vans loaded with crates of money coming from the Ampatuan house.
There were talks that some of the trucks went to Sultan Kudarat while some went to Davao.
A Dec. 10, 2009 news item in ABS-CBN online said that “… almost all of the (Ampatuan) houses have vaults that contain weapons and cash.
The report further said: “According to a source from the police, the cash of the Ampatuans, hidden in various locations, aggregate to about P1.3 billion.
“Another source said total cash could reach up to P3 billion since the Ampatuans prefer to stay liquid instead of stashing them in bank accounts or other financial instruments that are regulated.
Andal Ampatuan, Sr.
“In the latest raid conducted by the military on several Ampatuan homes in Maguindanao, no cash was retrieved. Authorities suspect the family was able to hide the money before martial law was declared over the province.”
There are also ARMM sources said that martial law in Maguindanao imposed on Dec. 4, 2009, 11 days after the massacre, actually helped the Ampatuans in securing their ill-gotten wealth.
It should be mentioned that the relatives of the victims had to haul AMLAC to the Ombudsman before it initiated proceedings to freeze the assets of the Ampatuans several months after the massacre.
The talk that Ampatuans prefer to have cash instead of keeping money in banks is supported by the incident on April 26, 2009, when then Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was held briefly upon arrival at the Los Angeles airport with $6 million in cash.
Ampatuan was going to Las Vegas to watch the May 2, 2009 Manny Pacuiao’s fight with Ricky Hatton.
Law enforcers monitoring the activities of the Ampatuans said the once powerful clan bets big on the Pacquiao fights. There was one Pacquiao fight that the family won as much as P750 million.
Jessie, who had offered to be a witness against the Ampatuans, was later killed in Parang public market in Maguindanao.
The Ampatuans had no known means of income aside from government funds. Maguindanao is one of the country’s poorest provinces.There’s a huge sum of ill-gotten wealth stashed somewhere and it’s being used to distort justice to free the perperators of the a most heinous crime this country has witnessed.
